


A Kiss in the Dark

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, huxloween 2018, side order of Unamo & Phasma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-16 14:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16088126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 4: Escape roomBen and Hux are stuck in an escape room puzzle. Mitaka and Unamo have to get them out. Thanisson gets what Hux thinks he deserves for being disrespectful about Ben.





	A Kiss in the Dark

In a cavernous converted warehouse on the edge of town, the creaks and squeals of metal and wooden fixtures shifting underfoot, a young woman watched ghostly green forms turn and twist. She laughed. “I can see-e-e you,” she sang into a microphone. “Can you hear me? Hold up one finger for yes and... hey! That’s rude!”  
On screen, a pale hand raised its middle finger. A face came closer. Lips moved but she shook her head.  
“Got no sound, guys. Sor-ree.”  
The face glared closer still. Words spoken again, mouthed so clearly that there was little doubt despite her relatively poor lipreading skill.  
“Hey,” said a voice behind her. “I think your boss just told you to fuck off.“  
On screen, the night-vision version of Hux nodded and made another hand gesture. Unamo and Mitaka both laughed.

Hux reached his arms out, turned away from the tiny red dot that showed the camera position and searched the pitch dark. Ben stood stock still, and Hux eventually blundered into him. Ben held Hux’s arm. They heard the laughter of Hux’s colleagues and Ben sighed. “What the fuck made you think an escape room was a great team-building activity?” he asked. “And why did you drag me along? I don’t even work for you.”  
“I booked it because Thanisson said it was ‘dope’,” replied Hux. “Is that the new word for cool? He’s trying to be down with the kids.”  
“Thanisson. The guy who’s trapped in that room with all the spiders?” asked Ben. “He got what he deserves. And he is a kid.”  
Hux grinned with amusement that Ben couldn’t see. ”He’s older than he looks. Pisses him off that he can’t get served without ID,” he said. "I invited you because Phasma is indisposed. It sounded fun, from the description.”  
“Fun,” echoed Ben. “Trapped in an enclosed space with people you only talk to because you work in the same place, coming up with solutions to stupid puzzles. What’s this one?”  
“Uh,” Hux said, trying to remember the introductory spiel. “I think we have to perform some task in the dark—“  
“Obviously.”  
“—with ‘Tak and Una giving us instructions. If we complete it, we get to move on to the next puzzle.”  
“And Thanisson?” asked Ben.  
“Whenever I mention you at work, he calls you _’That_ Ben’. You know. _Are you still sharing a house with That Ben._ And he uses his youthful looks to get out of buying rounds. He can stay with the spiders.”  
Ben laughed. “So you talk about me at work, huh?”  
“Oh,” said Hux, “all the time. Can barely get through an hour without telling Una about how you leave toenail clippings in the bath and never empty the bins. ‘Tak has had a full lecture on the deficiencies of your laundry skills. As for Than—”

Silenced by a sound, Hux held his breath and listened. He could hear Ben’s steady breathing and the mains hum of the electricals that emanated from every wall. A click caught his attention and he turned his head to see the red LED of the night vision camera blink off and on.  
“Guys? We’re losing you,” said Mitaka’s disembodied voice.  
“Losing us?” repeated Hux. “You know right where we are. I have GPS on my phone.”  
“Yeah, there’s a time limit,” said Una, voice crackling and tinny through the too-small speaker set high on the wall. “We need to solve this one fast or you’re stuck there forever.” “We have to give you a task,” added Mitaka.  
“You have to kiss!”  
“Unamo!” Mitaka sounded horrified.  
“No really,” Unamo said to Mitaka while Ben and Hux listened in. “We have to give them a forfeit and at work we’ve all been thinking those two ought to kiss. If they do it, they’re out.”  
“Well, yes,” said Hux. “I’ve been out for years so—“  
Ben squeezed his hand. “You know they can’t hear you.”  
“Damn it!”  
“I'm up for it,” said Ben quietly. “Being housemates, we skipped the nervous innuendo and the dating and the wedding and went straight to acting like a bickering old couple on the point of divorce,”  
Hux cursed. “You want to move out? Already? I’d just got used to the idea that I’d found someone who wouldn’t freak out at my... my... my—“  
“Idiosyncrasies?” Ben suggested. Hux squeezed his hand in return.  
“That. Yes.”  
“Guys?” Unamo sounded panicked. “Hate to rush you but OOOOH!“  
Ben held Hux tight around the waist and kissed him. Hux threw his arms around Ben’s neck and held on as if life depended on it.

Later in the bar, Thanisson picked a balled-up spider from his hair and shuddered. Unamo and Mitaka tried not to look at one another after their mutual humiliation in the _Skeleton-in-the-cupboard Cupboard,_ and Ben held Hux’s hand.  
“Team-building is great,” Ben said with a triumphant smirk at Mitaka. “We should definitely come here again.”  
“Over my rotting corpse,” said Unamo.  
“Hey,” Hux frowned at his secretary. “Don’t talk about your girlfriend like that.”


End file.
